I've come across many people that program as a means to an end. They don't enjoy it, it is just what they need to do to get the machine do what is fun, which is

I've come across many people that program as a means to an end. They don't enjoy it, it is just what they need to do to get the machine do what is fun, which is folding proteins, modeling ocean currents, driving the CNC, or what have you. For me, the actual application is fairly incidental to the programming and design part, which is where the fun is for me.